I'm guessing there was at least 100 moms (one dad) and kids that came to do a craft, see a puppet show, learn about fire safety and eat lunch. These would be spouses and kids of active duty military, (mostly Marines, since those are the ones closest to this USO facility). Moms were herding toddlers while carrying a baby and trying to get them to their table. The story time days are for kids up to 6 years old but I'm willing to bet most were 4 and under!
I helped at the craft table, which was a challenge for me, but it worked. This is what the kids were making:
In case you can't tell, it's a fire engine. Having kids spread red frosting on graham crackers was the challenge. I'm sure they were taken apart and eaten by the time they got back to their tables!
The kids loved the puppet show, the firemen and getting to see their equipment up close. 
A local pizza restaurant donated pizzas and there were cupcakes and cookies galore.
On Wednesday, I went back to the USO and helped with a Rack Pack party. There was probably 10 of us filling sacks with the essentials that Marines can use when they get to their barracks upon returning from deployment. They get toothbrush, shaving gel, deodorant, wash cloth, etc. so all that is available to them no matter what time of day or night they get in.
The "party" can be a bit chaotic, but somehow it all works and everyone pitches in and gets it done. We put together, or repacked almost 1000 rack packs. There was still a little time left,so we started on some deployment packs, which have different contents. (The USO can always use donations of travel size items and wash cloths!)
These two events put me over the required 24 hours of volunteering in order to get my own USO name tag.
Whoo-eee, now I can look like an official USO volunteer.
I look forward to more of these events.
3 comments:
Wow! It's been a busy week for you. Do you get a t shirt now too?
Sounds like fun! Glad you're involved. You write a really good story for lack of a better word. Want to hear more.
Nice work. You would hate my events. I always have messy crafts for kids. Also, you should work on that before you're a Grandma because I will be doing lots of messy things.
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